The Saga of Best 60 1482 A

It was a mild Fall evening on November 12, 2010 when Leroy Roth, aka Mr. 22, rang me multiple times until I finally stepped away from an evening meal in a local restaurant and answered his call. Lo and behold Leroy informed me that a Best 60 snow special had been posted for sale on the Yesterdays Tractors webside along with several other tractors that were located in Wisconsin. Because it was already 8:00 pm on the west coast and 10:00 pm in Wisconsin I decided not to interrupt dinner and that I would call in the morning and see if the Best 60 was in fact real and still available. When I got home that evening I pulled up the photo ad on Yesterdays Tractors and Leroy was absolutely correct that a Best 60 snow special was in fact for sale.

The following morning I called and talked to nice fellow named Jim who was selling all of the listed tractors for his wife's family as the owner had passed on. He told me that he had received one other call that morning from another collector who wanted additional pictures and a serial number of the Best 60. I asked Jim if he had promised to wait for the first collector as he had called first. Jim said there was no offer on the Best 60. I told Jim I would take the Best 60 for the asking price which surprised him a bit as I was content to buy the Best based upon only 1 picture and no serial number. I told Jim that I had been looking for a cold weather 60 and never dreamed that a cold weather Best 60 was even still in existance. I explained to Jim that I collected everyting Best and that this Best 60 would fill a hole in my line up. Attached below is a copy of my letter to Jim and his wife Marge wherein I enclose the check to purchase the Best 60 and explain my passion for Best tractors. I sent out the letter and check on the following Monday and called to confirm with Jim that he had received my Fex Ex with the letter, check and bill of sale. Jim confirmed receipt and told me he would send out the signed bill of sale when the check cleared. Jim was true to his word and shortly thereafter the Bill of Sale signed by his wife Marge arrived in the mail.

As it was now late fall in Wisconsin Jim and I agreed that the Best 60 would stay at the Symco showgrounds barn until the following Spring.

In April or May I called Steve Sabo of Target Transport and asked him to bring the Best 60 to California. He said he would not be up in Wisconsin for some time but that he would be happy to pick it up and bring it to California for me. In late June Steve called and said he would be going to Wisconsin and would be very close to Symco and he would load the Best 60 and take it back to his place in Indiana as he had not put together a complete load to California yet. I called and talked to Jim and gave him Steve's contact info and gave Steve Jim's contact info.

In mid July Steve called to tell me that he had picked up the Best 60 and winched it on his trailer and had put it in his barn in Indiana. Apparently several folks from the show were out to see the Best 60 leave the show site. As a side note Bruce Vinkler posted up on this discussion forum that he had run in to Steve with the Best 60 on his trailer headed through Illinois to Indiana. Steve thought he would be heading for California in a few weeks.

Fast forward to July 30, 2011 when I get a phone call from Cat-Iron Bob Stewart going off on me about stealing "his tractor". According to Bob and his lawyers Bob allegedly had an oral understanding with the deceased prior owner of the Best 60. Bob then started his pattern of posting defamatory and vulgar language verbally assinating both Leroy Roth and me. Bob also called Steve Sabo multiple times and attempted to put words in Steve's mouth that I had told Steve to be quiet about the Best 60 so Bob would not find out. Side note, if I was concerned about sneaking the Best 60 out of Wisconsin under cover of darkness I would have done so immediately after purchase and I certainly would not have used a trucker that both Bob and I used and who was a good friend of Bobs.

In September I received a phone call from Bob's high powered Milwaukee attorney laying out the alleged oral agreement with the deceased gentleman. I explained that I responded to an internet ad that was exposed to thousands of collectors around the world and that I bought the tractor fair and square with no knowlege that this tractor ever existed and certainly no knowlege that it had been "promised" to Bob Stewart. Two weeks later I received a letter via certified mail from a second attorney in "Bob's law firm" laying out in writing what the senior partner had told me on the phone. The major differance was that the letter included a check for my purchase price plus a little extra to cover my expenses. A copy of the letter is attached.

I knew at this point that I needed to get the Best 60 to California and into my yard. I called Steve Sabo and told him that I did not feel confortable with the tractor sitting in Indiana any longer and that he was in an extremely difficult situation and that I would send a truck into his yard to remove the Best 60 and bring it to California. Steve was exceptionally humble but grateful that I recognized the difficult position that he was in.

Last week I sent a truck into Steve's yard and removed the Best 60. I am happy to report that the Best 60 has been returned to the state of its origin as it arrived in my yard this past weekend.

I am not using this forum as a whipping post for Bob Stewart. Bob has been very good to a number of collectors and Bob and I have each helped the other with tractors and projects. Bob is quick to point out that he let me have a really nice original Holt 5 Ton military that was missing the armor. What he fails to state is that I traded him a really straight Cat 10 Bishop fendered tractor that had never been repainted and a sweet running Cat 22 with citrus fenders for the Holt. Bob also called me when he was restoring his beautiful black High 22 Cat as he needed a good manifold set up. I had a nice set of 22 manifolds off of a tractor I had recently brought home and I sent them to Bob with no strings attached. Bob knew I needed some liners for a D 7700 conversion engine I was working on so he sent me 3 liners from the haul he had gotten at the Al Smith estate liquidation. He also sent me a Diesel 75 radiator that had a repairable top tank that a local collector needed. I guess I just failed to realize that I was now beholden to Bob Stewart and that any tractor that came available in the state of Wisconsin or for that matter anywhere near Bob that I should have asked Bob's permission to buy it.

I needed a venue to state my side of the story as I have had literally dozens of calls from collectors in the US and overseas who have expressed dismay at Bob's extreme conduct. In this world of instant information I feel it is appropriate to state the facts only and to let you the readers make a judgement or come to a conclusion.

I have attached a couple of photos of poor quality that show the Best 60. It is a really nice tractor that will need some tlc and a few parts to make it a really terriffic tractor in my collection. I can understand that Bob is disappointed that he did not get this tractor as we have all missed out on pieces that would have been nice fits for our collections. What I do not accept is the extreme measures that Bob has gone to in an attempt to paint a far differant picture than reality. Thank you for reading this post.

An enjoyable and interesting read! I'm studying contract law for the CPA exam, and this is really interesting.
No written agreement & no consideration paid = no contract. Right? Even if Bob had a written contract to purchase that tractor it would have become invalid when the
seller died. I suppose you have to write something like that into your will or on behalf of a trust?

Congratulations, and I'm looking forward to seeing it!

Tom

I herd the story from a third party a while back, sounds like your on the same list with ACMOC in Bobs eyes

Glad to hear you got it home

Tom, That is one awsome tractor! That will look great in your collection of Best's. Is it a 2 or 3 speed? Does it have its oiling instruction plate on it? If it does I would love to see a picture of it.

Should everyone call bob before we buy a tractor, just to check and see if he wants it ? I think we need a phone #.😈

At first glance of the lawyers letterhead, I thought it looked like GRAB. Just and observation, don't call or write. As a side note-if anybody finds anything good-please call me first:jaw:

Old Cats

$15,000 for that tractor Tom, there's no question in my mind at all you stole it, I mean some folks regularly pay far more for a common Ol Cat 60 and you get one of the rarer old girls for just nickels in the dollar, shame Tom, shame😆😆

We often see when a Cat collector passes away it becomes the joyful responsibility of his/ her family to quickly dispose of the now seemingly rare and priceless "treasures" that have been rusting quietly away by the barn the past 50 or 60 years and free up some serious coin, often in the millions of dollars, whereas while the poor ol collector lived and used to drag these old crawlers like your Best 60 home, after having paid maybe $75 or $100 for it at a farm auction in 1971, his family would chew them a new ring gear for "wasting valuable money", and "stealing food off the table", and "makin a mess of the joint", or more often heard, "what are ya gonna do with that piece of junk Daddy, an how are ya gonna pay my Law College fees, ya know they gone an put em up to $350 this year!"😆😆😆

Hopefully Bob calms down, because I don't see the sense in paying Lawyers $30,000 to try and reclaim a tractor worth $15,000, and there are still thousands of rare old crawlers tucked away in old barns and sheds around the world we know nothing about, but then everyone knows I ain't the sharpest knife in the drawer.
Mike

Tom,
You got me worried now. Should I be getting a fancy letter from Bob's lawyers for Cat 30 Ser. # PS12947 that I purchased up in "Bob's Country" about six years ago. This is a cold weather package 30 without the cab, but it has a belt pully on back. I am truely sorry that I stole this crawler for only $3000 but it is now mine. Please say I too will not be getting a letter!!

Tom,

Life is like this example; I needed help with a vacuum tank for my Cat 60. You took time out of your day, called me, gave me a phone number of your guy to rebuild it.( I sent it out to him and he did a great job on it) Mean while Bob posted that he had a tank for me, that he was going to sent it to me, free of charge, but he just accidently ran over it, too bad for me. Well what comes around, goes around. Too bad Bob,-glen

I agree with Barstart, any verbal agreement that Bob may have had with the now diseased owner died with him. I had a similar situation with the sale of some real estate while serving as executor of my mother's modest estate. Some guy claimed that she had agreed to sell 40+ acres for a price far below market value. Guess he should have put it in writing and given her a check while she was living. No paper, no transaction, no contract.

hello ,without the rigth of reply i think the comments
should have been about the tractor not about the person ,bruce oz